Marvin Mandel, Governor                       1121

which may have been made subsequent to January 1, 1960, on in-
terests which were not taxable prior to May 8, 1961, are hereby
ratified, confirmed and validated to the same extent as if made after
the passage hereof. Anything in this Code dealing with the time of
making assessments notwithstanding, the appropriate authorities are
hereby directed to make assessments on all interests subject to taxa-
tion hereby which may not have previously been made, the intention
being that all interests made subject to tax by this subsection shall
be assessed and taxed as of January 1, 1960, and thereafter, to the
end that there shall be no discrimination whatsoever in the retroac-
tive application of the tax.

[8A.

Except to the extent prohibited by Section 269 of this article, and
except where a mandatory rate of reduction is otherwise prescribed
by this article, any county of this State by appropriate resolution of
its governing body shall have the power to eliminate or phase out,
by a reduction in the assessed basis, county taxes upon one or more
classes of business personal property. "Business personal property"
as used herein means inventory, furniture and fixtures, tools, ma-
chinery, equipment and supplies of any commercial, manufacturing or
professional business, or of any farmer.]

[9.

The following shall be exempt from assessment and from State,
county and city taxation in this State, each and all of which exemp-
tions shall be strictly construed:

(1)    Public property.—Property, real and personal, tangible and
intangible, belonging to this State or to any county or city of this
State.

(2)    Real and personal property of incorporated fire insurance
salvage corps and fire companies.—Real and personal property owned
by any incorporated fire insurance salvage corps without capital
stock which uses its property as aid to the fire department of any
county or city in this State, and the real and personal property owned
by any incorporated fire company.

(3)    Fraternal beneficiary associations.—The property of any
fraternal beneficiary association incorporated or licensed under Arti-
cle 48A of the Code of Public General Laws of this State, except real
estate, chattels real and office equipment, and shares of stock in
domestic corporations the taxes upon which are required by this
article to be paid by such corporation.

(4)    Churches, parsonages, etc.—Houses and buildings used ex-
clusively for public worship, and the furniture contained therein,
and any parsonage used in connection therewith, and the grounds
appurtenant to such houses, buildings and parsonages and necessary
for the respective uses thereof.

(5)    Graveyards, etc.—Graveyards, cemeteries, mausoleums and
other burial places for the dead, (including burying grounds and/or
mausoleums set apart for the use of any family or belonging to any
church or congregation) and cemetery and/or mausoleum companies
which are not operated for pecuniary profit and which do not accumu-
late profits for any purpose other than the maintenance or improve-